Adrian R. Krainer

Adrian Robert Krainer (born September 14, 1958 in Montevideo ) is a Uruguayan-American molecular biologist .

Krainer received his PhD from Harvard University in 1986 . He is a St. Giles Foundation Professor at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory .

He deals with RNA splicing and its role in tumors and hereditary diseases. For example, a defect in the post-transcriptional processing of RNA with mRNA splicing is responsible for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), in gene expression for the SMN2 gene. Krainer and his laboratory found a therapy using antisense oligonucleotides . The clinical tests with the drug Nusinersen (Spinraza) led to approval by the FDA in the USA at the end of 2016 and it was also approved in the EU. The drug is injected into the spinal fluid. His laboratory is working on similar drugs for other hereditary diseases ( familial dysautonomy ) caused by errors in RNA splicing . They are also working on methods for stabilizing mRNA in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) and on researching its causes. In cancer research, they identified the role of the splicing factor SRFS1 as an oncogene in breast cancer, where abnormally high gene expression of this factor occurs.

For 2019, Krainer received the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences with, among others, C. Frank Bennett , with whom he also worked. Also in 2019 he received the Zülch Prize . In 2014 he became President of the RNA Society . He received the National Institutes of Health Merit Award and the 2017 FE Bennett Memorial Award from the American Neurological Association . Krainer has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2016, the National Academy of Medicine since 2019, and the National Academy of Sciences since 2020 .

Fonts (selection)

• R. Sinha, YJ Kim, T. Nomakuchi, K. Sahashi, Y. Hua, F. Rigo, CF Bennett, AR Krainer: Antisense oligonucleotides correct the familial dysautonomia splicing defect in IKBKAP transgenic mice. Nucleic Acids Res, 46 (10), 2016, pp. 4833-4844.
• I. Aznarez, TT Nomakuchi, J. Tetenbaum-Novatt, MA Rahman, O. Fregoso, H. Rees, AR Krainer: Mechanism of Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay Stimulation by Splicing Factor SRSF1. Cell Reports, 23 (7), 2018, pp. 2186-2198.
• KT Lin, WK Ma, J. Scharner, YR Liu, AR Krainer: A human-specific switch of alternatively spliced ​​AFMID isoforms contributes to TP53 mutations and tumor recurrence in hepatocellular carcinoma. Genome Res, 2018
• TT Nomakuchi, F. Rigo, I. Aznarez, AR Krainer: Antisense oligonucleotide-directed inhibition of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Nat Biotechnol, 34 (2), 2016, pp. 164-166.
• O. Anczukow, M. Akerman, A. Clery, J. Wu, C. Shen, NH Shirole, A. Raimer, S. Sun, M. a. Jensen, Y. Hua, FH Allain, AR Krainer: SRSF1-Regulated Alternative Splicing in Breast Cancer. Mol Cell, 60 (1), 2015, pp. 105-17.
• Y. Hua, YH Liu, K. Sahashi, F. Rigo, CF Bennett, AR Krainer: Motor neuron cell-nonautonomous rescue of spinal muscular atrophy phenotypes in mild and severe transgenic mouse models. Genes Dev, 29 (3), 2015, pp. 288-297.

Web links

• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory website